300 Up - Some reflections and propositions

The last post on this blog was my 300th. As memorable anniversaries go, your 300th isn't the big one. (Is it because it doesn't have many factors? 1,2,3,6,10,25,30,50,100,150, 300? Who knows?) But since it's the beginning of a new year, now is as good as time as any to reflect, draw some threads together and look forward.

Here are the long-running themes of this blog:
1. I am happy to be an Evangelical Christian. This means saying 'sorry' quite a lot, but that's okay. No-one said we were perfect. And the World is happy to remind us again and again of our failings. But this does not mean we should apologise for everything and retreat. Equally, we should be careful about how we engage with society, the world and the community outside our church families. In this, we can be schizophrenic or double-minded.

Firstly, Evangelicals often swallow wholesale whatever is fed to us by the television, whatever we read in best-selling books and see on big cinema screens. And we often think that the government can fix everything, if only we could give them more money and power. These are grave mistakes, as we shall see.

But not only do Evangelicals pop cultural pills all the time without looking at the label, they/we also take against things with an angry passion, lining up to condemn a whole host of societal evils - and calling for the government to step in and take action.

This is a tension I have been forced to deal with, since I'm an Evangelical (Reformed/Calvinist/Anglican) who works in television and radio. The use of media often functions as the tinder box for discussion. More and more literature is being written on this subject - and area left largely untouched, as we thought Francis Shaeffer had it all covered. But it turns out that it's all a bit more complicated than that, as this blog and the comments have hopefully shown.

2. Here is a question that I've mentioned a few times on this blog, but highlights the issue rather well, I think. If a twenty-something JRR Tolkein attended an Evangelical church in London in 2008, what would he be taught to do? What would pastors suggest he do with his gifts and talents? Spend 35 years writing, rewriting and perfecting the Lord of the Rings? I sincerely doubt it. The Lord of the Rings is not an exact Christian metaphor, so what use it for the purposes of evangelism? That is, after all, the reason for being, isn't it? No. It is not. I used to think it was, but have realise that Scripture, being lengthy, complex and revealed over hundreds of years, is slightly more nuanced.

Being an Evangelical, one prioritises evangelism - and that is good and right. We have a gospel to proclaim. But is everything else relegated in importance? Including the right worship of God? I fear that often it is. But the warning signs are there. There have been serious problems in churches in America that pioneered Seeker-sensitivity (ie. church that exists primarily to evangelise the lost, not serve its Christina members). The command to fill the earth, subdue it and work it still stands. Christians are to be salt - to stop the rot. Christians should be those who work hard - in whatever field they are placed. Law, medicine, PR, media, education, horticulture, mathematics, aviation, management - as well as evangelism, pastoral care and discipleship. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings was not something that was designed to be used in evangelism. Lord of the Rings was Tolkein's worship. Tolkein wrote one of the greatest works in the English language (which includes the great Christian themes). Praise God! (And say 'Well done, Tolkein')

Why do we work? We work because the world will be redeemed. Not replaced. God uses out work to build his eternity.

3. Evangelism itself is more than 'winning an argument'. There are some great apologists emerging in the church - not least Tim Keller, who's wonderful Reason for God will undoubtedly be a blessing to many. But he knows that no-one is won for Christ by argument alone. All discussions take place in a context of relationships. Church Evangelism intermingles inextricably with church community and covenant life together. Sometimes, churches can worry so much about being inward-looking that they neglect relationships with their Christian brothers and sisters. Non-Christians don't want to join an organisation who's sole purpose is expansion and new members. That's called Pyrmaid Selling. Sometimes it's called a Cult. Church is community. The Kingdom of God - starting here, looking forward to redemption when Christ returns.

4. The final thread is the British Evangelical's strange relationship with the State. We shriek in horror when the government passes laws we don't like. We shake our heads when the government give yet more money to groups, projects, ministries and organisations we don't like. We're shocked when government ministers say that the state is secular now and needs to move on from it's overtly Christian origins. Just what sort of state are we expecting? Christians - and their pastors - seem very confused about what the state should look like according to the Bible. Instead, we've settled for a soft small 's' socialism in which the government picks up the tab for everything, legislates in every area of life and continues to fail the poor.

The answer is simple. Stop asking the government to help the poor. It's not their job. It's our job. The Church's job. And the people's job. The government's job is to govern. (Clue in title). The government's task, according to biblical teaching and precedent, is to ensure civil law and order, to prosecute and punish criminals, operating in a sphere outside of the church (but naturally influenced and informed by the Church). Instead, we have a government that simply has no idea what it's role is, but continues to plunder the savings of it's people in order to spend it on whatever project or plan seems politically expedient.

That is why this blog will continue to espouse the deeply unpalatable view that the government should only collect enough taxation to pay for the judiciary, the police, the prisons, border controls, the army (if you like) - and a few embassies around the world. That's it. No NHS. No National Curriculum. There'll be plenty of schools. And plenty of hospitals - funded in a myriad of different ways, depending on local population and preference. There'll be hospitals for the super rich that most of us can't afford. There'll be John-Lewis/Tesco middle-income hospitals that most of us will use (and be able to afford since top rate tax will be 10%). And there'll be hospitals for the poor, broadly managed and manned by Christians - who have a mandate to help the poor. (And there'll be one or two charity hospital run by secularists that will also be perfectly decent places to receive treatment.) Once we've stopped looking to Westminster and start looking to each other - and churches - things can change considerable. Obviously, this can't, and won't, happen overnight. But is it not something worth aiming for? Or do we prefer an over-mighty state that continues to take money from those on a minimum wage, and uses to pay for the sins of greedy bankers that have costs the nation hundreds of billions of pounds in pursuit of quick profit?

Clearly this vision rules me out of any kind of political career. It's completely unthinkable at the moment. Which is interesting as it was the norm in Britain for hundreds of years. It was certainly the norm 300 years ago in 1708. And it may be again in 2308. Let's look beyond the next twelve months, shall we? Even beyond the next 12 years? What could Britain look like in 120 years if the gospel spread?